The CW’s Pedowitz Discusses TVD/Originals Move & Possible Crossover

This month, Thursday night CW staple The Vampire Diaries and its spinoff, The Originals, are heading to Friday nights, prompting a reporter at today’s Executive Session at the Television Critics Association press tour to ask about the show’s possible exile and whether or not the shows’ fates are tied to each other.

“They are standalone shows,” CW President Mark Pedowitz assured the room full of reporters. “One of the things when you do a spinoff anyway is that they have to stand on their own two feet. I think Julie Plec, Caroline Dries, Michael Narducci have actually done that for both shows. We will do organic crossovers for storytelling purposes. The move to Friday night is not a move to exile it. It’s a move to strengthen Friday night because we made a strategic shift on Thursday night, making it male‑skewed, going in with Legends of Tomorrow and The 100, but we were happy to do that. And this is why I think we’ve ended up with probably coming in this midseason with the best schedule since I’ve been at The CW ever,” he said.

And what was that he said about a crossover?

“You will see, organically, a crossover this year, [but] not of the size and scope that we do for Flash and Arrow,” he said. His main requirement for it to happen, though? “It has to make sense. If they don’t make sense storywise, don’t do them. Don’t force them. The audience can tell,” he said.

Stay tuned to KSiteTV in the coming days for more from the Television Critics Association press tour!